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Reporter's Inside Stories: An Interview With Scribbler
Reporter: For my next installment of Reporter's Inside Stories, I will be smurfing to another of the famed artists of the Smurf Village...only this one is more famous to the Smurfs than to anyone else. He is the village cartoonist who likes to entertain his fellow Smurfs with what he calls bandes dessinées in the daily newspaper, and though he is constantly known as Peyo Smurf, his real name is Scribbler. Today we're going to visit him in his studio smurfing the work that he enjoys the most. (Reporter enters the studio to see Scribbler hard at work drawing a cartoon strip.) Scribbler: Ah, bonjour, M'sieu Reporter. You're not here to smurf me about deadlines now, are you? Reporter: No, I'm just here for an interview, Scribbler. It must be hard work for you to keep smurfing up a fresh new comic strip for us to read every day. How do you manage to keep smurfing it? Scribbler: I just like to smurf at life and see what's smurfing on it for my inspiration. You see, everyday life is just so full of situations and opportunities for things to happen that are unexpected, and sometimes the unexpected things can be so funny to smurf at that we need to take a smurf at ourselves when these things happen and wonder why we get so upset. My fellow Smurfs themselves are a constant source of inspiration: there's Brainy with his endless smurfing of his wisdom, Jokey with his exploding surprises, Vanity with his narcissism, Clumsy with his ineptitude, Lazy with his constant sleeping, Grouchy with his pessimism, and so on and so forth. Reporter: And from all that, you come up with the gags that you smurf everyday in your comic strips. Don't you think your fellow Smurfs might be offended that you portray them the way you do? Scribbler: Oh, ne sois pas bête. Most Smurfs in this village have a sense of humor, or they wouldn't find my work to be funny. I never smurf my work to be offensive to anyone because I know my boundaries when it smurfs to humor. But sometimes you can't help it when some Smurf doesn't like what I smurf into my strips no matter how hard I try to please him. Reporter: I know that feeling when it smurfs to my writing, Scribbler. Is writing and smurfing funny gags all that you smurf in your studio? Scribbler: I do try to imagine a more serious kind of book that I would want to smurf with my drawing style. One of my ideas features Empath and a group of Smurf superheroes that smurf together for the cause of protecting the village, the forest, and all who smurf in it from danger, that I would like to call Justice Smurfs. And then there's one where Jokey returns as the Masked Pie Smurfer. I even have the design for the cover smurfing on my wall here. Reporter: (takes a look at the cover for Scribbler's Masked Pie Smurfer comic book) Whoa, that makes Jokey seem rather dark with his pie ready to smurf at someone. You sure you'd want to smurf up a comic book story like this? Scribbler: I don't like smurfing grim and gritty in my bandes dessinées because I just don't feel it's appropriate for Smurfs to be seen smurfing that kind of violence and other unsmurfory things that even young Smurflings shouldn't read about. I prefer smurfing stories with a humorous twist to them so that others can smurf a laugh out of what they're reading. Reporter: When do you think you'll ever start smurfing these kinds of comic books? Because I for one would like to read about Empath and the Justice Smurfs. Scribbler: Ah, qui sait, M'sieu Reporter? Smurfing together these strips is already enough work for me to smurf in a day. And I have my works smurfed in a collection for future reference and perusal. Reporter: Then I won't smurf you for an answer on that. Tell me, how do you think your own artwork compares with Painter's, since he likes to make things smurf realistic and you like to smurf things as cartoons? Scribbler: Painter thinks that my work is nothing but a bunch of doodles with no significant purpose. I try to smurf him that it's a serious art form just like his painting and sketching, but he is so smurfmatic about what he considers true art that I think he's just as bad as Brainy, who always has nothing good to smurf about my artwork and so full of criticism that I would want to smurf him as far away from the village as smurfly possible. Reporter: It must be really upsmurfing when nobody takes your work seriously, Scribbler. Scribbler: It doesn't mean that I don't have any fans, Reporter. It's just that they don't understand that cartooning can be just as complex an art form as can painting and sketching. And like Painter, I am always challenging myself to smurf better with my art, to smurf things that no other Smurf has ever smurfed before in a way they have never smurfed before. But all in all, I never want learning to improve upon myself smurf in the way of enjoying what I smurf, even if other Smurfs just see it as a bunch of doodles. Reporter: Which smurfs me to the question of why you always sign your work as Peyo and not Scribbler. Scribbler: Ah, the origin of that name in my family is that it's supposed to be my name, Pierro. I was born the son of Vinetier and Marjorlaine Smurf, who helped Greedy's father in the kitchen with the smurfing of vines and drinks for their fellow Smurfs. Neither Greedy nor his fellow Smurfs could ever smurf that name right, because they keep on smurfing it as Peyo and not Pierro. I just decided to smurf another name for myself when I felt that I really didn't belong smurfing in the kitchen, so Scribbler is what I call myself in public. Reporter: Vino said that your Papa Smurf was so upset that you chose an artistic profession over a culinary one like your brother. Scribbler: He was so livid that he wanted so much to disown me, that if I want to spend my time smurfing silly drawings instead of smurfing serious business, then I should not think of him as my Pere Schtroumpf anymore. It was my Mere Schtroumpf who defended my right to explore that profession and encouraged me to be the Smurf I was meant to be, and for that I will never forget her...well, now that everybody remembers again their Pere and Mere Schtroumpfs from years ago. Sometimes, though, I do think of Picasso Smurf as my true Pere Schtroumpf in spirit, if not in fact, because all my skills as a cartoonist have been learned from him. Reporter: It must been hard to deal with the loss of both a spiritual parent and your real parents at the same time, Scribbler. How did you deal with Empath's Papa Smurf now being your Papa Smurf? Scribbler: I couldn't believe that such a Smurf like him would end up smurfing to be such a great authority figure, that he could empathize with our loss and yet still remain strong and determined to smurf us all together as a family. It's a wonder that I even find myself smurfing of him as Le Grand Schtroumpf instead of just being a Pere Schtroumpf. I will never forget those years that were smurfed bonding with him that made me feel like I was his son like the other Smurfs. Reporter: And what did you think of Papa Smurf's real son Empath when he first smurfed into the village years ago? Scribbler: Probably the same thing Painter himself was thinking...when did we smurf a robot into this village? I could tell he was just so uncomfortable knowing that he was a Smurf, but I had no idea until he smurfed me that that was the way he was smurfed up in Psychelia. Comment effrayant! I just couldn't stand to see Empath smurfing his life like he wasn't allowed to smurf any fun, so I tried to help him loosen up and see that there's humor in life. Jokey smurfed his own way of doing that, though, with his constant pranks. Reporter: That year was really tough for getting Empath to at least crack a smile. Scribbler: Ah, trop vrai, M'sieu Reporter. Over time, though, with more visits, Empath became the kind of Smurf who could laugh at things, all the while being respectful of things nobody should laugh at. He smurfed a joke right back at Jokey when he had enough of him smurfing the same joke on him time and again. And he also learned to smurf his own artwork from Painter, though he liked smurfing my style of work better. It just makes Painter envious that Empath could smurf a better masteurpiesa than he can, and Empath doesn't even smurf it as a profession. Reporter: Empath can be a hard act to follow at times. What do you think of him and Smurfette smurfing with each other for a few years now? Scribbler: Oh, such a beautiful and wonderful mademoiselle, the femme fatale who just smurfed my heart when she was first smurfed into a Smurf. I have waited years for her to say that I will be hers forever, and now it's Empath that's all hers, and he barely smurfed anything to her. I can't understand why all of a sudden things are like we don't even exist in her world. Maybe she's just seen her future with us on the day Woody and Laconia got married and she didn't like what she smurfed. It's not that we are bad Smurfs, but we are simply not Mr. Right or even Mr. Smurfect in her eyes. Reporter: You must be jealous like the rest of us that Smurfette's finding her happiness with Empath. Scribbler: Oui, vert de jalousie, I must say. I don't wish anything bad to happen to Empath or Smurfette, though, because I don't see any other Smurf making her just as happy as Empath is. It's like she's becoming a whole new Smurfette that none of us have ever smurfed before, and the change is so remarkable that I don't think I could ever love Smurfette the same way again, if ever. Reporter: I hear you on that. But do you think you might smurf happiness if there was, say, another village full of Smurfettes out in the world somewhere? Scribbler: If there is, I would hope to find one who believes in my artwork being a serious form of art and who also smurfs humor in everyday life. But I might as well as smurfing up an Imaginarium fantasy as far as finding another Smurfette. She is like that elusive blue rose that Painter refuses to paint, a rare find among us Smurfs, and even the boy Smurflings wish that they could be old enough to marry her, if you've been hearing what they're smurfing. Reporter: I know their talk, Scribbler. So if that wasn't the case, what do you expect you will smurf in your future? Scribbler: I'll have to let tomorrow smurf one day at a time in order to find out. For now, though, I would want to smurf my talents into something that Painter called "animation" for when Handy gets the window-vision smurfing again. It's amazing how you can smurf pictures to move when you smurf through them very quickly. Maybe you'll smurf my name someday in one of those "animated" cartoons, "created by Peyo". Reporter: I just can't wait. Anyway, I'm glad that you've smurfed the time for this installment of Inside Stories to smurf with me about your work. Scribbler: Pas de problème du tout! Au revoir! Category:Reporter's Inside Stories